


glass

by helsinkibaby



Category: FBI (TV 2018)
Genre: Community: 1-million-words, F/M, Fluff, Het, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-05
Updated: 2020-03-05
Packaged: 2021-02-28 17:06:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 935
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23030656
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/helsinkibaby/pseuds/helsinkibaby
Summary: “They used to call me Mr Glass.”
Relationships: Kristen Chazal/Jubal Valentine
Comments: 2
Kudos: 24
Collections: 1 Million Words' Weekend Challenge





	glass

**Author's Note:**

> For the weekend challenge, prompt as summary

“I swear... it’s not as bad as it looks.” 

Kristen called out the words before Jubal had finished hanging his coat on the coat rack, in what she was pretty sure was a vain attempt to stave off any worries he might have had. The second she laid eyes on him though, as he came around the corner from the entryway and locked eyes with her, she knew it for sure. His brow was even more furrowed than usual, his eyes dark and filled with concern. She’d swear there were a few more grey hairs in his beard than there had been that morning too. 

“I don’t know about that.” She could hear the forced levity in his voice, another red flag, as he sat down beside her on the couch, reaching out to shift the dish towel of ice that she had over her left eye. What he saw underneath made him wince. “It looks pretty damn bad.” 

“It was a lucky shot,” Kristen grumbled and yes, she was salty about that. She was allowed to be too, she’d been caught off balance and their suspect had landed a complete sucker punch, thoroughly ringing Kristen’s bell for a second or two. She’d recovered pretty quickly though and Scola had let her cuff the guy so it could have been worse. “It didn’t stop me arresting him.” 

“Yeah, yeah... is this where you tell me I should see the other guy?” He dropped his right hand to her knee, his palm cold through the material of her pants and she tried to tell herself it was because of touching the ice. 

“Hey.” She used her free hand to touch his cheek. “I’m okay.” He nodded, but his jaw was still tight so she tried for a little forced levity of her own. “Come on... you can’t tell me you never got in a fist fight the whole time you were undercover.” 

Forced levity for the win because Jubal chuckled lightly, shaking his head. “Kris, I haven’t been in a fist fight since _high school_.” He said it so definitely, with such great conviction, that she knew there was a story there. Usually, to make him tell her without saying a word, she would just cock her head to one side, arch a eyebrow and he’d be spilling his guts in less than five seconds. However, if she tried that tonight, she was afraid that her head might actually fall off. Or definitely feel like it was about to. So instead, she just kept quiet and looked at him with her one good eye, waiting. 

It took less than ten seconds for him to shift in his seat. “Let’s just say I figured out pretty quickly it wasn’t worth my while.”

Which was something, but not enough. “How so?” 

Jubal pressed his lips together in a thin, twitching line and Kristen couldn’t tell if he was embarrassed or trying to keep back a grin. Maybe a little of both. “Let’s just say they used to call me Mr Glass.” She didn’t understand and that must have shown in her face because he continued, “As in glass jaw. You know, one punch and you’re shattered?” 

It took a moment for the meaning to register and when it did, she couldn’t help herself. She laughed. Only for a moment though, because then she was the one wincing. “Please don’t make me laugh,” she instructed, through giggles that were still trying to escape. “It hurts too much.” 

“Oh, don’t worry.” He reached out and gently covered her hand with his, lifting the ice from her eye just enough to see the skin underneath. “I have no intention of making you laugh and further impugning my fragile masculinity...” 

She snorted at that and would have rolled her eyes if she wasn’t pretty sure it would hurt equally as much as tilting her head. “Fragile masculinity is not an affliction I would have diagnosed you with,” she told him because for as long as she’d known Jubal, he’d been totally confident, totally at ease, totally in charge in every situation. That confidence had been the first thing she’d noticed about him, and if it hadn’t been the first thing that drew her to him, it was very high on the list. 

“Why, thank you.” He looked pleased at that, taking the makeshift ice pack from her hand and putting it into the bowl on the table. Taking her chin in his hand, he carefully turned her head to the light. What he saw made him frown again, which was not exactly what you wanted your lover to do when he saw you, Kristen thought. “The swelling’s gone down, but you’re definitely going to have a shiner in the morning.” He paused as he brought her face back level with his, his hand moving from her chin to her cheek. His thumb swept a path up and down and it made her shiver. “I should go,” he said, with no conviction whatsoever. “Let you get some rest.”

Kristen kept her gaze steady on his. “Or you could kiss me better,” she suggested, her arms sliding around his neck, her fingers instantly moving to play with his hair. Which she knew was something that he liked and, well, if he didn’t want her to use that knowledge against him, he should have kept his mouth shut. 

Jubal’s hand moved from her cheek to the back of her head, his other sliding around her back and drifting lower. “I thought you’d never ask,” he murmured before moving in to do as he’d been told.


End file.
